Catholic Life Ministries

by Robert Fontana

Something terrible happened in 1933 Germany. The previous year the Nazi party won enough local elections to become one of the dominant political parties in Germany, with enough political clout to warrant the naming of Adolph Hitler as chancellor of Germany. Hindenburg, the German president, did not want to name Hitler chancellor. He feared Hitler’s aggressive and intimidating tactics. But the old president was persuaded by advisors that Hitler would be restrained by wise counselors. They were wrong. Hitler was not to be restrained. He quickly seized power and made Germany a one-party state.

As terrible as that was, that is not the event I am referring to. No, the event I am referring to is the absorption of 28 regional Protestant Churches into the National Reich Church which fully supported the Nazis and their policies. Pro-Nazi German Christians wanted a “nazified version of Christianity.”  Their leader, Ludwig Müller, was a rabid Nazi and antisemite who was named the first bishop of the National German Church. [1]

Initially the only Christian group who opposed the Nazis and the German National Church were evangelical Lutherans led by Martin Niemöller and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Niemöller and Bonhoeffer demanded that the church of Christ centered on the Word of God not be co-opted and replaced by the state. This was idolatry of the worst kind. They formed the Confessing Church in opposition to the Protestant National German Church and the Nazi regime, knowing full well of the opposition to come.[2]

The Vatican initially tried to work with the Hitler regime. On July 20, 1933, the Vatican signed an agreement with the German foreign minister which recognized Hitler’s role as chancellor, giving him international legitimacy. With this agreement the Vatican withdrew support for the Catholic political party that had been challenging the National Socialists/Nazis. In return, the Nazi government gave the Catholic Church freedom without government interference to exercise its mission of churches and schools in Germany. This, of course, was a commitment that Hitler did not keep. As Hitler increased the use of violence against his political enemies and enacted antisemitic laws and harassment of Jews, he also pressured Catholic leaders to remain silent.[3]

The Pope refused to be silent. On March 10, 1937, Pope Pius XI issued an encyclical (Mit brennender Sorge/With Deep Anxiety) condemning the Nazi regime’s violation of the 1933 agreement and the neopaganism and worship of the state that had replaced true religion in Germany. Pius defended the dignity of the human person which must be protected by the state: “man as a person possesses rights he holds from God, and which any collectivity must protect against denial, suppression or neglect.” Pius did not explicitly name Hitler and the Nazi regime his encyclical, but he did make a reference to a “mad prophet” leading the people. Mit brennender Sorge was written in German and not Latin. Fearing Nazi censorship, the Vatican smuggled 300,000 copies into Germany. The encyclical was read from the pulpit of every Catholic church on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1937. Hitler was outraged. The next day the Gestapo, the German secret police, raided Catholic churches across Germany to confiscate copies.[4]

As Germany edged closer to war in Europe, all opposition to the Nazis, both Protestant and Catholic, was crushed. The Confessing Church was closed, its seminarians conscripted into the army, and its leaders arrested. Catholic schools and religious institutions were closed, and Catholic leaders, clergy and lay, who spoke out against the Nazis were also arrested.

I see disturbing similarities between the Germany of the 1930’s and the United States in 2024. There is a new fascism in the US led by the former president that has broad support from evangelical Christians. Much like German evangelicals who supported Hitler without question, Christian nationalist support Donald Trump without question.  They see Donald Trump as God’s instrument to return the U.S. to its Christian foundation and conservative values.[5]  

Christian Nationalists are supporting Trump despite the following:

1. Trump has refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and has repeatedly lied to the American public that the election was fraudulent and stolen (even though Trump’s own attorney general told Trump the election was free from fraud.
2. Trump was willing to use violence to overturn the 2020 election. He invited supporters, including violent extremists like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, to assemble at the Capitol on January 6 and pressure the Republican congressional delegates and Vice-President Pence to reject the results of the electoral college. (JD Vance stated that had he been Pence, he would have rejected the certification of the electoral college vote giving Biden the win in the 2020 election.)[6]
3. The Justice Department indicted former President Trump on four felony counts for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.[7]
4. A Fulton County, Georgia, grand jury indicted former President Trump and 18 others including his chief of staff Mark Meadows for unlawful efforts to change the outcome of the 2020 election in that state.[8]
5. A Manhattan federal jury found former President Trump guilty of sexually assaulting E. Jean Carroll in a dressing room in a luxury department store.[9]
6. Another Manhattan federal jury found the former president guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. This trial featured hush money Trump paid to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, to keep her from going public about their sexual encounter before the 2016 election.

Christian Nationalists proudly proclaim, “Jesus is my savior, Trump is my president.” They see Trump as God’s instrument to “Make America Godly Again.” They pay little attention to Trump’s lies or immoral and criminal behavior. They support Trump right or wrong and will use violence if necessary to reach their goals.[10]

One thing that was present in 1937 but is missing in 2024 is the voice of Catholic leaders publicly naming the lies and threats of the new fascism and condemning them.

• Where is the Catholic bishop who will declare that sexually assaulting women, lying to the nation, and undermining trust in the democratic process and in the judicial system is a grave sin?
• Where is the Catholic bishop who will declare that attempting to overturn a duly elected president by violence and deceit is a mortal sin?
• Where is the Catholic bishop who has the wisdom and courage of Pope Pius XI to write a pastoral letter to the people of his diocese, to be read at all the Masses, naming the lies and threats of the new fascism and condemning them?

This is not taking a partisan position, Democrats over Republicans. This is about spiritual discernment and reading the “signs of the times” of the very real threat that the Christian Nationalists and former president Donald Trump pose to the constitutional government in United States in 2024.

Having the Pope speak out did not stop the Nazis in 1937, but it was the right thing to do. Having the bishops speak out against the current rise of fascism promoted by the former president and his followers may not stop them either, but it is the right thing to do!

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[1] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-german-churches-and-the-nazi-state

[2] Ibid

[3] www.americanmagazine.org/faith/2003/09/01vatican-concordat-hitlers-reich

[4] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mi_brennender_Sorge

[5] Freedomforum.org

[6] https://www.npr.org/2022/12/23/1145209559/jan-6-committee-final-report#:~:text=After%20roughly%2018%20months%20of%20investigations%2C%20the%20House,Donald%20Trump%20for%20his%20role%20in%20the%20attack.

[7] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-full-the-indictment-against-trump-for-his-efforts-to-overturn-the-2020-election

[8] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/read-the-full-georgia-indictment-against-trump-and-18-allies

[9] https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/e-jean-carroll-trump-trial-verdict-05-09-23/index.html

[10] https://apnews.com/article/trump-christian-evangelicals-conservatives-2024-election-43f25118c133170c77786daf316821c3